Our Pet Prince
by SwimmerLife
Summary: Jennie and Kira are two normal, Avatar obsessed, college students. One day, they come home to find a certain angst-bucket in their dorm. The madness that follows will give Zuko the adventure of his life.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I am way too obsessed with writing on this site. I don't want to update any of my other stories until I get at least one review, but I am obsessed with writing:(. So, I decided to chase one of the crazy ideas in my head.

* * *

I opened the door to my dorm room, expecting my roommate to be there. "Kiraaaa!" I yelled. There was no reply, which was strange because we both took the same classes at UGA. I walked past our little makeshift living room in the kitchen, and approached my desk on our room. We are HUGE Avatar junkies, so we had this habit where we screamed hello to our favorite characters when we entered our bedroom.

"Hi Toph! Hey Zuko! Wuzzup' Sokka?" I screamed. There was a noise from my bed when I said Zuko's name. I shrugged it off, Kira and I always argued about Tokka/Toko.

"Kira, why are you on my bed?" I asked, addressing the figure whose arm was hanging over my top bunk. Just then, the door slammed.

"Hey Jennie, guess what I got? It's Starbucks day!" A voice exclaimed, and it sounded a lot like Kira. I ran into the kitchen, and stopped dead when I realized it WAS Kira.

"Kira! You have to come quick, someone's on my bed! I thought it was you!" I yelled, gesturing frantically to the bedroom.

"All right, all right, but this better not be another trick." She grumbled. I pulled Her into the room, playfully wailing about intruders. It was an ongoing joke between us, one of us pretends there is an intruder, gets the other one really scared, then reveals it all as a bluff.

"Oh Agni, Jennie, you weren't kidding." Kira said grimly when she saw the person. Another joke. We love using Avatar spirit names instead of saying 'oh God'. We slowly climbed the ladder, and I swore the girls the next door over heard our fangirl screams when we saw the angst bucket in a hot body who was somehow on my bed.

"Is Episode 1 Zuko seriously on my bed? Kira did you see his face, that's the most innocent look he's ever had in armor!" I screamed.

"I know right!" She screamed back. Of course, we fangirled so loudly that we woke him up. What he said was the funniest thing ever.

"Uncle! Where is all this screaming coming from?" He yelled. Then he turned and saw us, and he was so surprised by our presence that gave out a high-pitched scream and promptly fell off the bunk.

Kira and I were in total fan girl mode. "You know what we should do?" I asked her as we jumped down the ladder and approached a very dazed Zuko.

"Use him as a model for fanart? Totally!" She said, pulling up her rolliechair and pulled him into it.

I grinned as I acted out how we would do it. "Come on, hold still, I have to trace your face!" I held up an imaginary paper to Zuko's face and traced it with my finger.

"Come stand next to this cardboard cutout of Katara so I can sketch your love for her!" Kira said, hugging an imaginary life-size cutout.

"Ooh! I got one!" I squealed, then paused for emphasis. Kira motioned frantically for me to continue. "Zuko, come kneel next to this cutout of Toph! And put on this leash for kicks!" I said. Then I changed my expression to horrified and I ran around, yelling, "No, don't break the leash! I payed five bucks for that!"

By then, Zuko was aware of us. I stopped running in circles and started laughing with my best friend. He looked at us and his expression was so confused that he almost looked as cute as his depressed face in season three. Kira had turned around to bring in our Starbucks, probably wanting to see his reaction to the bubbles.

"Kira...Turn around." I said, backing away in an attempt not to collapse and hug him like he was a child.

She ignored me, saying, "What, are you scared of his angry face? You should have been used to it by episode five of Season one."

"Oh, just turn around." I snapped. When she did, she gasped. We stood there in shocked silence for a minute, anticipating what he was going to say.

"What's a leash?" He asked, looking so innocent he made Aang look devious. Neither of us answered him, just turned and whispered to each other.

"Jennie, have you realized what we have done? We have confused him so much that he isn't mad at all." Kira whispered, eyes wide.

"It's a feat of nature. Is this Season three Zuko dressed up as his Season one self? Cause if not then we have broken the awesomest male character in Avatar." I replied, glancing over my shoulder at him. Thankfully, his expression had returned to his normal annoyed look.

* * *

After we got over the initial shock, Kira and I started arguing over him while he sulked in the corner. We finally agreed that it would not fit to have him use in either of our beds, so we told him he was free to sleep on the couch. Thankfully, he seemed to know what a couch was.

A few minutes later, we tried and failed to suppress our giggles as we convinced him to try coffee. As soon as he drank just a little, a look of pure disgust took over his face. Kira pouted and I cheered. Kira was the only one who liked coffee, so I tried desperately to get him to try my decaf Frappe Chino.

"I'm gonna tell Azula you're too much of a baby to try liquid chocolate!" I teased, knowing very well that my comment hit a nerve.

Zuko scowled, snatching the cup from me. He took a small sip, and I relished in the fact that his expression was neutral instead of the same disgust as before. Of course, he didn't want any more either, but it was better that the soft curses that had followed Kira's coffee.

"I told you Kira! Chocolate forever!" I did my victory dance, grinning madly at my pouting friend. "Oh cheer up. I'm sure he'll like something of yours." I said. I threw my arm over she shoulders, gesturing with my other towards the ceiling like it was the sky.

"Think of all the things we can do!" I said, using a voic. that sounded cryptic and wondrous.

Kira's pout turned into a devious smile that matched mine. "Oh Yea."


	2. Candy and Friends

**Candy and Friends**

I groaned as I forced myself off my bunk, ignoring my protesting muscles. A crash and a yell came from the kitchen, followed by a pair of yelling voices. I slipped on a robe to cover the sports bra and shorts I slept in before going to watch the scene.

"Sit down and eat your cereal like a good little Fire Nation PUPPET!" Kira yelled, and it sounded like she threw a spoon at Zuko.

"I don't want any of your disgusting peasant food!" He yelled, sounding slightly desperate. Just how long had these two been arguing?

"Do you want to starve? Cause I don't have time to figure out how to make you fire flakes!" She yelled back. Zuko started to growl, but Kira cut him off with an angry yell. "Oh be quiet! You'll wake Jennie, and you've already kept her up half the night with your petty grudges."

Zuko had thrown a fit the night before when we jokingly told him that we hated Fire Nation things. He had stormed away, but he couldn't seem to find his way down to the first floor of the dorm. He had wandered the halls for hours, until a group of drunk girls insulted his weird armor and ponytail. He had stormed back to our dorm room at one in the morning, long past when Kira had gone to bed. I had waited for him to come back, because I was slightly worried about how the young prince would deal with the other collage students. We were all at least 20, and he was 16. Though he looked a little older in his phenix tail.

I stepped into the light from where I had been standing in the door, startling the loud duo. Kira looked like she longed to throw her coffee mug at Zuko's scowling face.

Trying to lighten the mood, I said in a sweet voice, "Kira dear, we all know coffee burns, and hasn't this one suffered enough without a match from you?" I walked behind Zuko and put my arms around him, making a cute face that I pretended matched his.

"Don't touch me peasant." He growled, shoving me away. Kira chucked her yogurt-covered spoon at him, and to his dismay it landed right on his nose. We snickered at him as he stared cross-eyed at the spoon balancing on the curve of his nose.

A devious idea planted itself in my mind, and I grinned at my best friend. "You like spicy, right?" I asked Zuko, not even waiting for a reply as I rummaged through one of our cabinets. Kira finally caught on as I flashed the box of candy so she could see it.

"You wouldn't dare." She said with a gasp, giggling a little. Zuko stared at us like we were lunatics.

"Oh don't look at us like that, we aren't raving mad. Just a healthy amount of awesome and crazy." I scolded him, pouring a few of the little red candies into the hand I snatched from him. "Now eat it, we want to know what you think."

He eyed the candies in his hand suspiciously, then glanced up at me. I motioned frantically for him to eat them. Finally, he brought his hand up to his mouth and tentatively ate a few. The moment he bit down, his indifferent expression contoured into one of such surprise that I was sure that if he was in Tom &Jerry his mouth would be visibly on fire. Of course, we weren't sure if he could do it here, too.

Kira and I burst into hysterical laughter, watching as he stood rigid in the middle of the kitchen. That was probably the last time we would get him to eat something that didn't look like food.

We finally calmed down, and Kira opened the fridge. She poured a cup of milk from the carton, handing it to him in choked silence.

If looks could kill Kira and I might have been dead right then. He quickly drank the glass then threw it at my head for giving him the candy in the first place. It was an awful throw, and I caught it with ease.

"What IS that?" He growled, but when I glared over my shoulder menacingly he stopped. I let my lips curve into a smile.

"RedHots." I chirped with almost acid-like sweetness. Turning, I grabbed a cereal bar out of the pantry and headed back to bed. I heard Kira sharply reprimanding Zuko for throwing stuff. She looked like she wanted to bend him over her knee and give him a good spanking, like he was eight or something. I didn't really blame her.

Turning on Pandora from my phone, I slipped off my robe. I slipped into somewhat peaceful sleep, with a background of pop music and arguing.

* * *

"Jennie!" Kira yelled at the top of her lungs, and it didn't sound like she was under me. Crazy girl must have gotten up early for once in her life. "Jennie, wake up, it's noon!" At this, I rolled over and rubbed my eyes, then sat up to face my screaming (and somewhat annoying) friend.

"Is it Saturday?" I asked. She nodded enthusiastically. "YES!" I yelled, pumping my fists in the air. Saturday was MALL DAY! We went to the mall with all our best friends.

"Hey Zuko!" Kira yelled, walking in from her place in the door way. I ignored it, instead jumping down from my top bunk to stand next to her. I subconsciously wondered why she didn't do the same with Sokka and Katara, her other two favorites.

A stern looking boy wearing armor and a pony tail walked in, scowling at Kira. Oh. OOHH. I forgot about him.

When he saw what I was wearing, he shifted his eyes around frantically in search of some excuse to get out. He knew Kira wouldn't let him out just becuase I was wearing only a bra and shorts. He seemed to make a decision. Then he ran.

...Smack dab into a WALL.

* * *

I sighed, pulling on a nice outfit as Kira fussed over the unconscious prince on the floor. Our other friends weren't as big on Avatar as us, so they wouldn't know the difference between real-passed out Zuko and cosplayer-passed out Zuko. So we were trying to get his armor off so he looked somewhat normal. If that was possible.

As soon as we had his armor off and hidden (Thank god he had clothes on under it), someone knocked on our door.

"Coming!" I screamed, which effectively woke Zuko up, because he let out a surprised yelp and tried to push Kira's foot off him. She had been 'worried' that he would sleepwalk, so she had held him down with her foot. Don't ask where she got THAT idea.

It was Alex, one of our guy friends. Emma came around the corner behind him. "Did you guys kidnap a cosplayer or something?" Emma asked, peering over my shoulder to stare at Zuko and Kira, who seemed to be wrestling. I looked behind me, and sure enough, the two were yelling and rolling around next to the wall.

"Ummm. No. That is... Ashton. Yea, uh, he's Kira's new step brother!" I stuttered.

"They don't seem to get along very well." Alex commented, shaking his head.

"You have no idea." I grumbled, leading our friends into the kitchen. "Kira! Alex and Emma are here! Leave him to be emo and come talk!" I yelled over the arguing. Zuko opened his mouth to say something, probably an insult, but Kira told him to shut up as she dusted herself off. He fell silent and just glared at her retreating back.

"Step brother, huh?" Alex said, thankfully not seeing Kira's surprise as he gestured to Zuko. "How old is he?"

"Sixteen and and gets more annoying by the minute." She growled, and I laughed a little at her comment. Just then, Justin, Anna, and Sarah burst through the open door.

"We heard yelling, did we miss something?" Justin asked, dropping Sarah, who had been on his back. We had really silly friends. Zuko stared at them from his corner.

"Who's the kid?" Anna said, throwing a bottle of hand sanitizer at Zuko as she walked towards me. It hit him the side of his head as he stared at Justin and Sarah, who were stealing a quick kiss. They had gotten together a month ago, and they still hadn't lost the sparkle. I was happy for them.

We all snickered at Zuko when he looked at us like we were insane. "Oh Ashton, you're never gonna get it. Just let our awesomeness happen!" I told him, high-fiving Anna and Kira. He gave me the 'What?' look. I ran over to him. "You are officially now American enough to give me the 'What?' look. You may now celebrate!" I said, doing a little dance.

He looked sorta scared as we cheered and clapped for him. Apparently no one clapped about this stuff where he was from. Especially for him.

I walked back over to our friends, laughing my head off with them. I felt sorta bad for Zuko, but at least we included him somewhat, right?

"Why's he so confused?" Alex whispered in my ear.

"English is not his first language. And he's still learning all the concepts of American college students." I whispered back, coming up with an alibi for him.

"Where's he from?"

I panicked. I looked at Zuko, at his physical traits. "Um, Russia."

"Cool!" Alex whispered.

I paused. "Why are we whispering?"

Alex laughed, and I joined in. We all finally ran out of laughing breath, and then Blake walked in, competing our group. "What's with the commotion, I thought we were supposed to actually GO to the mall this time!" He said, erupting a chorus of giggles from the rest of us.

"Kira, should we bring Z-Ashton?" I whispered, pointing to the sulking boy in the corner.

"We can't leave him alone." She said.

Sarah snuck up behind us, whispering, "Uh oh. You guys forgot a baby sitter for your little bro!"

'Ashton' heard us talking about him. "I do not need a babysitter!" He howled. This, of course, caused a chorus of taunting 'Ooooh's and 'He speaks!'. Kira and I teased along with them, the started laughing as we all yelled a line from one of the group's favorite songs.

"HERE'S TO NEVER GROWIN UP!" Whooping and laughter filled the room, and for a moment I had never felt more content. Zuko had even dropped his scowl for an indifferent expression.

"Are we EVER going to get to the mall?!" Blake said, and I smiled.

"Yea! We gotta get Ashton looking normal!" Kira exclaimed, which was followed by more whoops of laughter.

Zuko glared at us.


	3. The Mall

**The Mall **

We decided that we were going to split up into Blake's car and Alex's car. Kira, Emma and I went in Alex's car and Justin, Anna, and Sarah went in Blake's. I pulled Zuko along behind me. I realized when I was climbing in that we had nowhere for Zuko to go. I stared at Kira, but she shot me a devious grin and yelled,

"Ashton! Get over here and sit on Jennie's lap!" His face turned bright red.

"What?" He said, jerking his hand away from mine as he backed away from the car.

Alex leaned towards us from the front seat. "Jennie, why is Kira's little brother scared of you?" He whispered.

I watched Kira's lips tug into a smug smile. "You did something, didn't you?" I asked her.

"Maaaybe." I scowled at her, then turned and climbed out of the car. Zuko backed up a few more steps until he was up against the wall of the parking garage next to the car.

_Note to self: I may or may not hurt Kira when we get back for scaring him this bad. _I thought as I approached him.

When I was a little less than an arm's length from him, I looked down into his eyes. The unscarred one, his right, was wide and he was frantically searching my face for any signs of anger or contempt. I tried to keep my expression sympathetic as I reached out and grabbed his shoulders.

I could feel him tense up as if I was going to hurt him. A fresh wave of anger swept through me as I wondered what Kira did to cause this. I didn't know what I was doing. I just acted out to comfort him before I even thought about what to do. Now, I was standing in front of a sixteen year old angsty boy from another dimension that my roommate had somehow threatened into submission.

So, I did the only thing that could have worked. I moved my arms behind him and pulled him close. He didn't hug me back, but he did relax some, so it must have helped a little. After a moment, I heard the car doors open and close.

I looked over my shoulder to see Alex leaning against the car with a smile. Emma was standing next to him, and Kira had her hand on Zuko's shoulder. I released him from the hug, but then she whipped him around and pulled him in for another hug.

"Sorry dude." She said. He stared at her in surprise, stiffening under her touch. After a moment, he visibly relaxed. It looked like forgave her, but he didn't want to say it. I was okay with that, maybe even glad.

Kira suddenly transitioned from hugging Zuko to pulling him toward Alex's car.

"Come on, I actually want to get there this time!" She exclaimed. I shook my head and jogged behind them.

* * *

We met up in the parking lot with the rest of the group.

"Where to first? Macy's?" Blake asked.

"Nah, we've already got stuff from there. Remember, the most important part of this trip is Ashton!" Kira said.

"Maybe we should go to Buckle!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Yea, they've got good jeans!" Justin added.

Buckle wasn't too far, so it didn't take very long to get there. Except for the fact that Anna, Sarah, and I stopped at Aeropostale. And Emma and Kira wanted to go to Delia's. And the guys wanted to go into Hollister.

It took forty five minutes to get to Buckle. By the time we got there, almost all of us were holding bags and everyone except Zuko was holding sodas from the food court. He still didn't trust us when it came to food.

"Ooh! Ashton, look at these!" I held up a pair of faded black men's jeans.

"They're too long!" Blake said.

"We can get them hemmed?" Sarah suggested.

"Try them on before we do that!" Kira said. Justin grabbed a few different sizes of the jeans and shoved Zuko in the changing room.

A few minutes later he trudged back out in the jeans.

"Told you they'd fit him!" I said to Alex as I tugged at Zuko's jeans. _Jeez, I'm acting like Katara would. _I thought. He squirmed under my touch, but I stopped after I was satisfied that the jeans fit.

"At least they're not too long like the last ones. I didn't realize how short he was." Kira said to me. I nodded in agreement.

"I'm not short!" Zuko said.

"Then answer me this Ashton, why are we all taller than you?" Anna said.

He opened his mouth to try and retaliate, but Emma, ever the peacekeeper, put a stop to it. "That's enough. Back in the stall with you. We can't be in here all day, they'd kick us out."

"Crazy demanding imbeciles." he grumbled. I kicked him.

Then I bought him two different pairs of jeans in the same size once he came out.

* * *

"Let's go to American Eagle!" I exclaimed ten minutes later, after we had grabbed Chik-Fil-A at the food court.

Once we were in the store, we all split up and went to different sides if the room. Kira and I dragged Zuko around behind us. He looked like he just wanted to go home. I suspected that the most ideal location of that home was lost to him three years ago.

I had stopped at a table with colorful jeans on it when a snotty voice came from behind me.

"Why look who it is, the losers." I turned to face my rival.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in Kira." I said evenly, barely even looking up from the jeans I was holding.

"Jennie." She said.

"Catharine." I spat. She shrugged as if it didn't matter that I hated her guts.

"What's with the kid?"

"This," I said, "is Kira's stepbrother from Russia."

"Russia, huh? Then speak some Russian." She spat in Zuko's face. For a moment his expression was so furious that I almost felt bad for her. Almost.

Then Zuko said evenly, "I am no pet to be ordered around by the likes of _you_."

"Stupid little punk!" Catharine screeched at him. We jeered at her as she stalked away with her snotty friends.

* * *

"Alex, can you keep Ashton in the car for a few minutes for me?" I whispered as we pulled up to the parking garage of the dorm. We had left the mall shortly after the incident in American Eagle.

"Sure." He looked skeptical as he said this, but he didn't protest.

"Thanks."

I convinced Zuko to stay in the car with Emma and Alex, but it took a bit of haggling to finally reach a comprimise. So I only had five minutes to do what I needed. I jumped out of the car and dragged Kira out with me.

"What is wrong with you?" I said once we were out of sight.

"Hm?" Was all she said.

"Don't think I forgot! What did you do that was so bad that he was shaking and scared of me?" I snarled, raising my voice until I was almost yelling.

"Oh that. That's a funny story!" Kira chimed, obviously undeterred by my wrath.

"Yes. So funny. Would you care to enlighten me about just HOW HILARIOUS that was?" I said.

"All I did was a little yelling. He shouldn't have been throwing stuff anyway."

I took a deep breath before continuing. "Then why was the boy who is supposed to be angry and fearless SHAKING when I approached him?"

"Look, I thought he was stepping out of line by throwing our stuff at you, so I straightened him out."

What? Was that what they had been doing while I was asleep? Was that why Zuko had been in the kitchen when Kira woke me up? Did she hit him or something?

"Straightened him out?" I asked. "Why? He didn't break anything, all he did was throw a cup at me. It wouldn't even have broken, we have clear plastic cups, remember?"

"I know, but he just makes me so angry!" Kira grolwed.

"Maybe he'll mellow out sooner than in the show, then the problem is solved." I said.

Kira gasped. "The show!"

"What about it?" I questioned.

"If Zuko's here, then what happens in the South Pole? The plot had to have changed because he's not there!"

I gasped. Why had we never thought of that?

"Come on, we gotta go check!" I exclaimed, running back to the car behind Kira.

"Thanks guys, you're awesome! We gotta go!" I said hurriedly to Alex and Emma before pulling Zuko into the dorm behind us.


	4. Preview!

A/N: I am dried up for my other story, Banished Ally, I have to gather details for this story and Not Your Dragon, and I need a beta reader for Not Your Dragon. Oh, I need to get working! Anyway, I have a little part of the next chapter for Our Pet Prince! Yay!

* * *

_Slam! _

The noise of the door slamming behind us was music to my ears, but I rushed to the TV and grabbed the DVD for season one.

"Wait. Jennie, what about Zuko?" Kira asked.

"What about me?" He snapped.

I waved him away, saying, "Stay in our room until we call you out." He scowled at me.

As soon as he was shut in, I inserted the disk and fast-forwarded to the part when Zuko came in. Except, it wasn't him. It was Zhao. There were two ships docked, Zhao's huge one and Zuko's tiny one. Iroh stood on the deck, looking forlornly out to sea, muttering,

"Where could he be?"

Just then, fighting ensued in the village. Zhao hauled Aang aboard his ship, calling angrily to his troops to get the ship moving. Iroh did the same on his own ship, only more calmly.

Kira and I watched for a moment as Katara and Sokka argued, then switched the TV off.

"What have we done." Kira said.

I shook my head. "It wasn't our fault, but now it's our responsibility. We have to fix this."

"But how?"

"I don't know." I said solemnly. I sighed, but then I put on a smile. "Zuko! Go put on some of the clothes we bought!"


End file.
